This Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup is creamy comfort food made in a pressure cooker. It’s healthy, keto, and low carb.
Before I started a low carb diet, I loved getting broccoli cheddar cheese soups at Panera Bread on rainy days. Even better if it was in a bread bowl. There’s something very comforting about cradling up to a warm bowl of creamy and thick broccoli soup on a cold day.
Now that I follow a keto diet, I make a healthy and homemade version of Panera’s soup from scratch. Unlike Panera, I skip thickeners like corn starch and flour. I don’t use chicken broth or stock because they often contain fillers and additives that I don’t think are necessary. I make up for all of this by adding in extra cheese and broccoli, and the end result is a very thick and hearty soup.
With the pressure cooker, it doesn’t take long to cook all of the ingredients into a state of creamy tenderness. Just 15 minutes of prepping and 15 minutes of cooking. It’s a fast recipe that yields five hearty servings, each filling enough for a meal.
I developed this recipe for the Instant Pot pressure cooker by adapting from my stovetop broccoli cheddar soup recipe. The two recipes are nearly identical, except that I don’t add bacon to the pressure cooker version for simplicity, and the pressure cooker version is a bit faster to make. Due to the differences in stovetop vs pressure cooking, this Instant Pot version is thicker and creamier because the ingredients are more broken down, resulting in more of a pureed taste.
Tips on making successful broccoli cheese soup in the instant pot:
- Interested in making this a no-chop recipe? You can make your prep work almost nonexistent by buying a bag of pre-chopped broccoli florets and a 15 oz container of mirepoix at the grocery store. Mirepoix is packaged and pre-diced carrots, onions, and celery, typically used as a flavor base for soups and stews. I pick up both at Trader Joe’s.
- Measure out the broccoli and cheddar cheese by weight. Here’s a great digital food scale. It’s a lot more accurate because depending on how they’re cut and shredded, the same weight of broccoli florets and cheese can vary significantly in volume.
- I use a pressure cooker made by Instant Pot and it has a 6 quart capacity. Either 6 or 8 quarts will work for this recipe, but I don’t recommend using smaller sizes.
- For an even thicker soup, you can use an immersion blender to puree. I prefer a chunkier soup so this isn’t something I do, but it’s a great option for those who prefer a smoother consistency.
- To further reduce the number of carbs, only use half as many onions and carrots. It’ll be thinner, but still delicious.
This recipe is ideal for preparing meals ahead of time because it cooks quickly, makes many servings, and freezes/reheats well. If your pressure cooker is large enough, you can double the ingredients (but keep the pressure cooking time the same) and make 10 servings. Each serving is about 1.5-2 cups in volume. You can store it in the refrigerator and reheat using the microwave, or you can freeze and reheat using the microwave at 50% power, pausing to stir every few minutes.
Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup (Pressure Cooker)
This Instant Pot Broccoli cheese soup is creamy comfort food made in a pressure cooker. It's healthy, keto, and low carb.
Ingredients
- 7 ounces chopped broccoli florets (about 4 cups)
- 7 ounces shredded cheddar cheese (about 3 cups)
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 1/2 cups diced onions (about 1/2 onion)
- 1 cup diced carrots (about 3 carrots)
- 1 cup diced celery (about 3 stalks)
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- salt and pepper to taste
Optional Toppings:
- paprika
- shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
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Sauteing vegetables: Select the saute mode on the pressure cooker for medium heat. Add butter and stir until melted. Add diced onions, carrots, and celery, cooking for about 5 minutes until onions are soft, stirring frequently. Turn off the saute mode.
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Pressure cooking: Add chopped broccoli and 2 cups of water, and stir. Secure the lid and seal the vent. Cook for 5 minutes at high pressure, immediately followed by a manual pressure release.
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Stirring in dairy: Uncover and select the saute mode. Add heavy cream and garlic, and stir. Gradually add shredded cheddar cheese, stirring in until melted and well-mixed. Turn off the saute mode.
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Serving: Add salt and pepper to taste (I usually add at least 1/2 teaspoon of salt). Serve in bowls and optionally sprinkle paprika and shredded cheddar on top.
Nutrition Notes
This recipe yields 9.5 g net carbs per serving.
| Nutrition Facts Per Serving |
| Calories 560 | |
| Total Fat 52g | 79% |
| Saturated Fat 32g | 159% |
| Trans Fat 0g | |
| Cholesterol 162mg | 54% |
| Sodium 370mg | 15% |
| Potassium 190mg | 5% |
| Total Carb 12g | 4% |
| Dietary Fiber 2.5g | 10% |
| Sugars 7g | |
| Protein 15g |
I just made this and it is divine. After the pressure cook was done, I transferred half the soup to the Vitamix and carefully blended that to a fairly smooth texture. I slowly incorporated just one cup of half & half (I didn’t use heavy cream) into the Vitamix and whirred on high until it was velvety. I transferred that back to the rest of the soup in the Instant Pot. The time in the blender made the soup extremely thick and creamy. It was delightful and I want to thank you for taking the time to publish this recipe.… Read more »
Thanks for sharing your feedback! I’m going to try pureeing the soup next time for a smoother finish.
Delicious. Thick and creamy and omg good.
Is there a substitute for the whipping cream without affecting the taste too much? I’m training for my first marathon and am limiting the amount of my daily fat intake.
I haven’t tried anything other than heavy whipping cream for this recipe, so I’m not sure how other substitutions would affect the taste. I think if you substituted with half and half, that should work reasonably well.
I used evaporated milk and the soup came out great! I added a little butter, about 1 Tablespoon, to make up for missing fat in the cream, but you don’t really need to.
I used half & half, only a cup. I also used 2 cups of water with 1 tablespoon of low sodium Better than Bouillon Chicken base. I didn’t want all that cream either. But it turned out silky smooth after I ran about half of the soup through the Vitamix. That’s where I incorporated the half and half, and it was like velvet
When you say manual release, does that mean natural or quick? I’m still learning about my IP 😉 Thanks!
Manual release means a quick release. Let me know if anything else is confusing and I’d be happy to clarify 🙂
Very yummy! I doubled the recipe so I doubled the water. Should I have only used 2 cups of water for the broccoli? It wasnt as thick as I thought it would be but Im sure thats why. I added extra salt and cheese to compensate! Very yummy flavor! I will be making it again for meal prep! Thank you!
Thank you for your feedback! If you doubled the recipe, the water should also be doubled. If it wasn’t as thick as you thought, my guess is maybe you added broccoli and cheese by volume instead of weight? Depending on how you cut the broccoli florets (small or large) and how much you pack the cheddar in a measuring cup, the same amount can vary a lot in volume. If you make it again, I’d recommend measuring them by weight. Glad to hear you enjoyed it, and I hope you make it again soon!
Can i ask, how much is one serving? 1cup? 1/2cup?
Each serving is about 1.5 – 2 cups.
This sounds like a great recipe and versatile too (think cauliflower or broccoli/cauliflower). I have a 5 qt instant pot and wonder why you recommend only a 6 qt or larger.
I recommended 6 qt or larger because there’s a large volume of ingredients, but I think it’ll probably all fit in a 5 quart pot. Just might be a bit tight after you add cream and cheese.
I have frozen broccoli. Will the soup come out the same? I know frozen broccoli is much softer when it cooks. Thanks
I think the broccoli will come out softer, like you said, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing since this is a soup where all of the ingredients are super tender and soft. One thing you can try is to decrease the pressure cooking time by 1 minute.
Made this tonight, tasty!! Added sautéed chicken breasts. It was great and had enough for another full meal for the 3 of us! Thank you for posting this!
Thick chowdery soups are my weakness. Thanks for sharing!